America East preseason coaches poll...UHart?

[Blakeon18]

#1 Albany
#2 Maine
#3 New Hampshire...coached by Dave Magarity's daughter Maureen and her husband!
#5 UHart

Please correct me if in error: My impression is that UHart has taken a turn south the last few years.
Jen took them from nowhere to a very solid mid-major with a couple of first round wins in the NCAA
but of late they have been kinda mediocre at that level.

 

[Goodgood]

Jen is a great coach. Her recruiting has not been very successful the last few years, maybe recruiting/traveling budget constraints plus injuries or maybe there is much more competition for recruits in the area than before.
It seems to be a similar problem with Foster at Ohio State. He went stale there and had to move on to Chattanooga. Now, he is back up again winning when he not supposed to.

 

[CocoHusky]

Jen just hasn't gotten the horses lately but more importantly you have to give credit to Katie Abrahamson-Henderson of Albany. She pretty much taken over the league. I'm really surprise she lasted at Albany this long she in line to head a perenial top 25 program. Good connections as an assistant to JPM at Maine and Bill Fennelly at Iowa state. This is also the second lower DI tier program that she has taken to a string of conference titles and NCAA tournament-Missouri State being the other.

 

[hjoerring]

Jen is a great coach. Her recruiting has not been very successful the last few years, maybe recruiting/traveling budget constraints plus injuries or maybe there is much more competition for recruits in the area than before.
It seems to be a similar problem with Foster at Ohio State. He went stale there and had to move on to Chattanooga. Now, he is back up again winning when he not supposed to.

This would mean that the current coach isn't having any success or, he too will fall off after the honeymoon years? Before I can comment on Hartford I'd to see how they stack up with the other schools.

 

[vtcwbuff]

Jen is a great coach. Her recruiting has not been very successful the last few years, maybe recruiting/traveling budget constraints plus injuries or maybe there is much more competition for recruits in the area than before.
It seems to be a similar problem with Foster at Ohio State. He went stale there and had to move on to Chattanooga. Now, he is back up again winning when he not supposed to.

If Rizzotti is unsuccessful recruiting then she is not a great coach. She may be a good coach, but recruiting is part of being a great coach.

 

[Northeast86]

I think people sometimes forget how hard it is to maintain consistency at a non power conference school. In the 90s and early 2000s Maine and UVM were the powerhouses in America East. Maine was, for the most part, a consistent twenty win season team. Then Maine went on a ten year slump when Versyp left until last year Barron led them to a 23-9 record. UVM is averaging 6-8 wins a game over the past 4-5 years.

A few years ago Albany was in the basement. Their current coach is doing a great job and landed Shareesa Richards and recruited incredibly athletic guards. None of them can shoot beyond 15 feet, but they are great slashers. Should Katie Abrahmson-Henderson leave, it wouldn't be shocking to see Albany drop.

In the large conferences, George Washington was a terrible team a few years ago and now a top-25 team. Will they be top 25 5 years from now? Maybe. BC? Used to have a great women's basketball team. Now America East teams are beating them.

Now if Rizzotti can't right the ship and get her team back to the top of America East in the next couple of years, then there is some concern. But a couple years of .500, not great but hardly an abnormality. Most coaches jump before they hit that lull in small conferences.